Cigarette snuffer ash tray



c. DE J. HERCULES 2,963,027

CIGARETTE SNUFFER ASH TRAY Filed Dec. l1, 1959 y V* 2 A i 26 Z6 A f 1L. y :I 1 2 id /0 j l' 1 f2 4 I 32 //H\\ l -T A aeA/E Y United States Patent C ree CIGARETTE SNUFFER Asn TRAY lChristopher De J. Hercules, 4640 Q St. NW., Washington, D.C.

Filed Dec. 11, 1959, Ser. No. 858,958

2 Claims. (Cl. 13b-235) This invention relates to ash trays equipped with cigarette snuffer means.

The object of the invention is to provide an ash tray with means for receiving cigarettes in separate inclined pockets for holding a number of cigarettes over the tray and means for opening the bottom of any one of said pockets to permit a snuffed cigarette therein to drop through the bottom of said pocket into the tray.

A further object is to rigidly mount a cylindrical sleeve vertically over an ash tray, slidably mount a resiliently and rotatably supported sleeve on said cylinder, provide inclined bores through said outer sleeve angularly spaced thereabout and extending downwardly to said inner sleeve to form suitable cigarette holding pockets, and provide a vertical slot in the lower end of said inner sleeve for opening the bottom of the pocket aligned therewith when the outer sleeve is depressed and allowing a cigarette which has been snuted in said pocket to fall into the tray without releasing any cigarettes that might be held in other pockets.

Further and more specific objects will appear in the following detailed description of one form of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

rFig. 1 is an elevational view of a preferred form of the novel cigarette snuier ash tray,

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 in Fig. 1.

The novel cigarette snuffer Iand ash tray combination as herein disclosed has the advantage over prior combinations of this type, in that the snuier pockets may be easily emptied into the tray selectively when a smoker snuls out a cigarette in any one pocket, without emptying any of the other pockets that might be temporarily holding other smokers cigarettes at the time. Also the pockets retard the burning of parked cigarettes, thus reducing if not eliminating the unpleasant stench from the smoke of more rapidly burning cigarettes and adjacent residue material near a lit cigarette placed in an open lash tray.

The preferred form of the device illustrated in the drawing comprises an ash tray having an upright rod 12 with a knob head 14 serving as a convenient handle for the ash tray. At the same time, the rod 12 serves as a support for a cylindrical sleeve member 16 lixed thereto by means of a centrally apertured internal ange portion 18 resting on lock washer 20 fixed in an annular rod groove 22. Sleeve member 16 is preferably of metal of high '-eat conductivity to facilitate snuing out a cigarette when crushing its lit end in the pocket 30.

A sleeve member 24 is slidably and rotatably mounted on the cylindrical sleeve member 16 and has an internal ange 26 at its upper end slidably fitted around the rod 2,963,027 Patented Dec. 6, 1960 12. A coil spring 28 is placed around the rod 12 between the internal flanges of the two sleeve members to normally maintain the outer sleeve member 24 in raised position. Sleeve member 24 has a number of inclined bores 30 spaced around the sleeve member and extending downwardly through the body of sleeve member 24 to the cylindrical sleeve member 16 to form pockets for loosely holding individual cigarettes.

Sleeve member 16 extends downwardly suliiciently to maintain the bores 30 closed even when the sleeve member is depressed to fully compress the coil spring 2,8, but has a vertical slot 32 extending from its lower edge substantially to the level of the lower edge of the bore openings in the sleeve member 24 when in its normal raised position, as shown in Fig. 3.

Thus the sleeve member 24 may be turned to line up any one of the bores 30 with slot 32 for opening the corresponding pocket upon depression of the sleeve member 24, without opening any of the other pockets. Hence, the pockets may all be used to hold individual cigarettes, either burning or unlit, for many smokers, and when a smoker is through with his cigarette, he may snui it in any available pocket land release the snufed cigarette into the ash tray by simply turning the sleeve member 24 to align his pocket with the slot 32 and depressing the sleeve member. The cigarettes occupying any of the other pockets will not be released because the sleeve will keep their pockets closed. The tendency or" the 4ashes to stick to the sleeve member 16 after snufng will be eliminated by the movement of the edges of the bore openings over the sleeve member 16 during the depressing operation of sleeve member 24.

Many modiiications in form and detail construction may obviously be made in this device without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an ash tray, an upright rod xed to the bottom of said tray, a cigarette holder and snuler device mounted on said rod comprising a resiliently supported sleeve member having at least one inclined bore therethru extending downwardly to the inner surface of said sleeve member, a cylindrical member iixed to said rod over which said sleeve member is slidably tted so as to keep the bottom of said bore closed during axial sliding movement of said sleeve member on said cylindrical member between normally raised and manually depressed positions of said sleeve, said cylindrical member having a slot in its side extending vertically from its bottom to the level of the lower edge of the bore opening in the inner surface of said sleeve member when in its raised position, said sleeve member being rotatable to manually align said bore with said slot for emptying the bore into the tray after a cigarette has been snuted out in it, by depressing said sleeve member to open the bottom of said bore through registration with said slot.

2. The combination delined in claim 1 wherein said sleeve member has a plurality of inclined bores for holding individual cigarettes, whereby a snuing and emptying operation in one bore may be performed without emptying the other L. :'es.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,561,124 Lacker July 17, 1951 2,575,261 De La Torre Nov. 13, 1951 2,743,729 Butler May 1, 1956 

